Port Augusta West, South Australia

Port Augusta West is a suburb of Port Augusta, South Australia.

Port Augusta West Port Augusta, South Australia
Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden
Port Augusta West
Coordinates	32°29′03″S 137°45′32″E / 32.4842°S 137.7589°E / -32.4842; 137.7589^[1]
Population	4,046 (SAL 2021)^[2]
Established	1865^[1]
Postcode(s)	5700^[3]
Elevation	14 m (46 ft)^[4]
Time zone	ACST (UTC+9:30)
• Summer (DST)	ACST (UTC+10:30)
Location	282 km (175 mi) N of Adelaide^[3] 2 km (1 mi) W of Port Augusta
LGA(s)	City of Port Augusta
Region	Far North
State electorate(s)	Stuart^[5]
Federal division(s)	Grey^[6]
Mean max temp^[4] Mean min temp^[4] Annual rainfall^[4] 26.3 °C 79 °F 12.1 °C 54 °F 221.5 mm 8.7 in
Suburbs around Port Augusta West: Carriewerloo Carriewerloo Emeroo Lincoln Gap Port Augusta West Wami Kata Spencer Gulf Lincoln Gap Cultana Cultana Commissariat Point Spencer Gulf
Footnotes	Adjoining localities^[7]

However, it has a separate early colonial history to Port Augusta, because it is on the Eyre Peninsula, while the rest of Port Augusta is on the east side of Spencer Gulf. It was not until 1926 that a bridge was built across the head of the Spencer Gulf to connect them, replacing a punt.^[8]

The Corporate Town of Port Augusta West was gazetted on 6 October 1887,^[9] and only merged into the Corporate Town of Port Augusta on 28 April 1932.^[8]

Port Augusta West contains the junction of the Eyre Highway (to Eyre Peninsula and Western Australia), Stuart Highway (to the Far North and Northern Territory), and Augusta Highway (to Adelaide).

Location, description and land use

 

Signs at the junction of the three highways

Port Augusta West is the only part of Port Augusta that is located on the western side of Spencer Gulf on the Eyre Peninsula.^[10] It is about 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) west of the centre of Port Augusta and about 280 kilometres (170 miles) north of Adelaide city centre.^[3]

Port Augusta West consists of an urban area on the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula, immediately west of the centre of Port Augusta. It is dissected by the Augusta Highway, which branches in the middle of the suburb, to become the Stuart Highway which heads north, and the Eyre Highway which heads west. The Whyalla-Port Augusta railway line passes to the north and west of the suburb’s urban area.^[10][11]

The suburb is mainly residential on the eastern side of the suburb. The area between the Eyre Highway and the Stuart Highway on the west side of the suburb’s built area is zoned for industrial use. The Port Augusta Airport is located to the south end of the suburb and is separated from the residential area by open space and a “vegetation buffer”.^[12]

The suburb includes the Port Augusta Golf Club and Port Augusta West Primary School.^[10][13][14] The suburb also contains the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden, West Side Foreshore, Westside Lookout Tower, Rotary Park, Northey Crescent and Sid Welk Park.^{[15][16][17][18][19][20]}

The historic Port Augusta West Water Tower in Mitchell Terrace is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register.^[21]

Governance

Port Augusta West is located within the federal division of Grey, the state electoral district of Stuart, and the local government area of the City of Port Augusta.^[6][5][1] The suburb is also located within the South Australian Government region of the Far North.^[22]

Climate

Port Augusta West has a warm desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWk).^[23]

Climate data for Port Augusta Airport, Port Augusta West
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	34.3 (93.7)	33.3 (91.9)	30.3 (86.5)	26.6 (79.9)	21.7 (71.1)	18 (64)	17.7 (63.9)	20.1 (68.2)	24.1 (75.4)	26.9 (80.4)	30.4 (86.7)	31.9 (89.4)	26.3 (79.3)
Average low °C (°F)	19.4 (66.9)	18.9 (66.0)	16.4 (61.5)	12.9 (55.2)	8.8 (47.8)	6.2 (43.2)	4.7 (40.5)	5.3 (41.5)	8.5 (47.3)	11.5 (52.7)	15.6 (60.1)	17 (63)	12 (54)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	12.4 (0.49)	18.4 (0.72)	17 (0.7)	18.9 (0.74)	15.4 (0.61)	24.7 (0.97)	18.2 (0.72)	14.6 (0.57)	17.4 (0.69)	16.5 (0.65)	20.6 (0.81)	23.9 (0.94)	217.6 (8.57)
Source: Bureau of Meteorology^[4]

See also

• List of cities and towns in South Australia

References

1. . Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, Government of South Australia. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Port Augusta West (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022.  
3. "Port Augusta West Postcode". Australian Postcode Search. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
4. "Monthly climate statistics: Summary statistics Port Augusta Aero (nearest weather station)". Commonwealth of Australia , Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
5. "District of Flinders Background Profile". Electoral Commission SA. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
6. "Federal electoral division of Grey, boundary gazetted 16 December 2011" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
7. (PDF) (Map). Department for Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, Government of South Australia. 31 October 2012. Rack Plan 951. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
8. "GATEWAY TO THE WEST". The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929). Adelaide, SA: National Library of Australia. 7 July 1927. p. 13. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
9. Marsden, Susan (2012). "A History of South Australian Councils to 1936" (PDF). Local Government Association of South Australia. p. 11.
10. "Port Augusta Structure Plan: A section of the Far North Region Plan" (PDF). Department of Planning and Local Government. 2010. p. 8. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
11. "Port Augusta City Council Rural Roads" (PDF). The Government of South Australia. November 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
12. "Development Plan - Port Augusta (City) Consolidated – 15 November 2012" (PDF). Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure. pp. 144, 145 & 147. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
13. "Port Augusta West Primary School". Department for Education and Child Development trading as South Australian Government Schools. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
14. "Port Augusta Golf Club". Port Augusta Golf Club. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
15. "Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden". City of Port Augusta. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
16. "West Side Foreshore". City of Port Augusta. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
17. "Westside Lookout Tower". City of Port Augusta. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
18. "Rotary Park". City of Port Augusta. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
19. "Northey Crescent". City of Port Augusta. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
20. "Sid Welk Park". City of Port Augusta. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
21. . South Australian Heritage Register. Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources. Archived from the original on 15 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
22. "Far North SA government region" (PDF). The Government of South Australia. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
23. Peel, M. C. and Finlayson, B. L. and McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen–Geiger climate classification". Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11 (5): 1636+1642. Bibcode:2007HESS...11.1633P. doi:10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007. ISSN 1027-5606.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (direct: Final Revised Paper)